Mishnah Pesachim
by Jonathan Wolf

(Chapter 7 of 10)

Chapter 7

This chapter deals with the roasting and eating of the Pesach offering. In the Torah (Shemot 12:19) we read: "Do not eat of it raw or cooked at all in water, but rather fire roasted." Consequently, the mishnah deals with the laws of how the offering is to roasted and consumed. The chapter also deals with what happens if the Pesach or its participants become contaminated.

Mishnah 1:

How do we roast the Pesach? We bring a spit of pomegranate wood and thrust it through from its mouth to its buttocks and place its knees and its entrails inside it. These are the words of Rabbi Yose Ha Gallili.

Rabbi Akiva says: This is considered a form of cooking; rather they

(the entrails) are hung outside it.

Commentary:

A wooden spit is used because a metal one will heat and transfer heat to the offering. The Torah states that the Pesach must be roasted with fire and by any other indirect method. If the entrails are left inside, then the juices will heat up and thus cook them in violation of the commandment. Thus, according to Rabbi Akiva, the entrails are hung outside so they can be roasted by the fire directly.

Mishnah 2:

We may not roast the Pesach offering either on a metal spit or on a roasting tray. Rabbi Tzadok said: It once happened that Rabban Gamliel said to Tavi, his slave: "Go out and roast for us the Pesach offering on the roasting tray."

If it touched the earthenware of the oven, he must pare off its place. If some of its juice dripped onto the earthenware and dripped back onto it, he must remove its place. If some of its juice dripped on the flour, he must remove a handful from its place.

Commentary:

This second mishnah continues the discussion about roasting. The gemara notes that when Rabban Gamliel used a roasting tray, it was perforated to allow the juices to drain off. Since no part of the animal is to be cooked by another source, if it touches earthenware, or hot juices flow onto it, the area involved must be cut off. If there is flour in the oven, the juices will disqualify it from consumption and it must be burned.

Mishnah 3:

If he smeared it with oil of terumah, if the group is composed of Kohanim, they may eat it. If it is composed of Israelites, then if it is raw, he must rinses it; but if it is roasted, he must pare the outside.

If he smeared it with oil of the second tithe, its value may not be charged to the members of the company, since second tithe may not be redeemed in Jerusalem.

Commentary:

Terumah is produce allocated to the Kohen. It is forbidden for an Israelite to consume it. Since raw meat will not absorb the oil so easily, rinsing it will suffice. The second tithe (ma’aser sheni) must be eaten in Jeruslaem. If this is not possible, one can redeem its value and then bring the money (which has a holy status) to Jerusalem to purchase food. Ma’aser sheni cannot be resold once in Jerusalem.

Mishnah 4:

Five things may be offered in a state of contamination, but may not be eaten in a state of contamination: the omer, the two loaves, the panim breads, the public peace offerings and the he goats of the new moons. But the Pesach offering that is offered in contamination may be eaten in contamination, because its original purpose is only for eating.

Commentary:

In general, sacrifices must be performed in a state of ritual purity (tractate zevachim). The exceptions are the daily public offerings and the Pesach offering. Let us look at each one in turn: the omer is offered on the sixteenth of Nisan. This is a grain offering equal in volume to 43.2 eggs according to the commentators. A handful is removed and burned on the altar and the remainder is eaten by the Kohanim. The two loaves are offered on Shavuos. These are two leavened loaves made of fine wheat flour brought together with an animal sacrifice. Technically, leaven cannot be offered as a sacrifice on the altar. In stead, they were waved and this action was in lieu of actual offering. The panim breads were arranged on the golden table of the Holy area of the Sanctuary in two tiers. There were two spoonfuls of frankincense, one near each tier. Every Sabbath the loaves were replaced and the frankincense burned on the outer altar. They had the status of meal offerings and were eaten by the Kohanim. The public peace offerings were two yearling lambs brought on Shavuos and offered by the public. The he goats of the new moons were sin offerings offered at musaf on Rosh Chodesh.

Mishnah 5:

If the flesh of the Pesach offering became contaminated but the fat remained uncontaminated, one may not throw the blood. If the fat became contaminated but the flesh remained uncontaminated, he throws the blood. But in the case of the other consecrated animals it is not so. Rather, even when the flesh became contaminated and the fat remained uncontaminated he throws the blood.

Commentary:

The specifics of the Pesach sacrifice are somewhat stricter in this case than the general sacrifice. The situation described the mishnah is one in which the community was not in a state of contamination. In the first part, the fats, which are to be burned on the altar, were contaminated. This invalidates the sacrifice.

Mishnah 6:

If the community or its majority became contaminated, or if the Kohanim were contaminated but the community was uncontaminated, it is performed in contamination. If a minority of the community became contaminated, those uncontaminated observe the first Pesach offering, and the contaminated observe the second Pesach offering (Pesach Sheni).

Commentary:

The Torah provides for a second chance to observe the ritual of Pesach on the fourteenth of Iyar. This is known as Pesach Sheni.

Mishnah 7:

Any Pesach offering whose blood had been thrown and it was learned afterwards that it was contaminated, the tzitz effects acceptance. But if the body of the person was contaminated, then the tzitz does not effect acceptance. For they have said: Concerning the nazirite and for one who performs the service of the Pesach, the tzitz effects acceptance concerning contamination of the blood, but the tzitz does not effect acceptance for the contamination of the body.

If one became contaminated from a contamination of the deep, the tzitz effects acceptance.

Commentary:

On his head, the Kohen Gadol wore a golden head plate called the tzitz. On it were engraved the words "Holy to hashem". This symbol was supposed to effect acceptance and releases the participants in the Pesach sacrifice of making another offering. The concept of "shogeg" or negligence in the act of willful violation of a sacrificial matter is an important concept to the Sages. The Kohen must have the proper intent (as mentioned previously) in the performance of his duty. A "contamination of the deep" is a tumah that appeared for the first time and was of unknown origin. The tzitz does not atone for the contamination of people; it is reserved for holy things. The Sages derive this law from the verse (Shemot 28:38): "And Aaron shall bear…the sin of the Holy things…" implying that the garments make atonement for "kodashim", the Holy things.

Mishnah 8:

If the whole or the greater part of it became contaminated, it must be burned before the Temple complex with wood of the pyre. If the lesser part became contaminated, also the leftover sacrificial meat, they burn it in their courtyards or on their rooftops with their own wood. The misers burn it before the Temple complex, in order to benefit from the wood of the pyre.

Mishnah 9:

Any Pesach offering that was taken out or became contaminated must be burned immediately. If the owners became contaminated or died, it must become disfigured and be burned on the sixteenth. Rabbi Yochannen ben Beroka says: This too must be burned immediately, because there are none to eat it.

Commentary:

The Torah states in Vayikra 7:19 that the flesh of sacrifices must be burned if it becomes contaminated. In verse 17 of that chapter, the Torah states that any leftover meat must be burned as well.

The Pesach had to be consumed in Jerusalem as well as within the selected grouping. If it is removed from Jerusalem or became contaminated, it must be burned immediately. The lesser sacrifices (kilayim) must also be consumed within the walls of Jerusalem. The phrase "disfigured" means that the meat was left to rot and then burned.

Mishnah 10:

The bones, the sinews, and the leftover meat must be burned on the sixteenth. If the sixteenth falls on the Sabbath, they must be burned on the seventeenth, because they do not override the Sabbath or a festival.

Commentary:

According to the Torah in Shemot 12:46, the bones of the Pesach offering may not be broken. Thus anything edible (such as the marrow) that is leftover must be burned.

Mishnah 11:

Anything edible in a large ox, must be eaten in a tender kid, including the ends of the shoulder blades and the cartilage. If one breaks the bone of an uncontaminated Pesach offering, he incurs the penalty of forty lashes. But one who leaves over the flesh of an uncontaminated one, or who breaks the bone of a contaminated one, does not incur the penalty of lashes.

Commentary:

The Torah commands that the pesach offering be consumed. Which parts are considered edible? The mishnah states that anything that can be eaten in a large ox, is edible in a tender kid used as the Pesach. The penalty for breaking the bone of a valid offering (as mentioned in the previous mishnah) is forty lashes.

Mishnah 12:

If part of a limb projected outside, he cuts it until he reaches the bone, and pares the meat away until he reaches the joint and severs the limb. But with the other offerings, he may chop with a cleaver, for they are not subject to the prohibitions of breaking a bone. From the jamb inward is as inside; from the jamb outside is as outside. The windows and the thickness of the wall are as the inside.

Commentary:

This mishnah is discussing the requirement that the Pesach be eaten in Jerusalem. If part of the offering is taken outside, then that portion must be cut off without damaging the bone. The jamb refers to the door jamb of the gate to the city as well as the door to the Temple complex. The same holds true for the windows and walls. According to some commentators, the walls of Jerusalem were thick enough for people to comfortably sit and eat on them. This evidently presented a problem in Temple times for if a limb projected beyond the wall, it might technically be in violation of the commandment to eat in Jerusalem.

Mishnah 13:

If two groups were eating in the same house, one group may turn in one direction and eat, and the other group may turn in another direction and eat, with the kettle between them. When the waiter stands up to mix the wine, he must close his mouth and turn his face until he gets back to his own group, then he eats. The bride may turn away her face and eat.

Commentary:

This last mishnah in chapter 7 deals with the requirement that the Pesach be eaten within one’s own group. Thus if two groups faced each other, it might appear to be a single group which would violate a Torah commandment (Shemot 12:7).